Vanilla Herbalism Guide: 1 – 300 (WoW Classic Leveling)

Welcome to our WoW Vanilla Herbalism Leveling Guide! This guide works for vanilla-era, SOM, and hardcore servers. 

Herbalism is my favorite gathering profession. It is very chill and fun. It can also be quite lucrative – especially if you get lucky and find a Black Lotus spawn. Black Lotuses are used for every flask in the game, and a lot of people will be using flasks at least once per raid. Other herbs are also always in demand for various professions and consumables. 

This guide provides different options for different level ranges. When leveling herbalism, you’ll be running several circles around the zone. So wisely choose the zone you enjoy the most. It will help a lot! 

Here’s a helpful table that shows when you can collect each herb. It also shows when each herb goes yellow, green, and grey.

Herbalism guide WoW Classic

Start by learning herbalism from one of these trainers:

1 – 75

Silverleaf, Peacebloom, Earthroot

• Durotar
• Tirisfal Glades
• Mulgore
• Elwynn Forest
• Teldrassil
• Dun Morogh

Durotar isn’t the simplest route there is because every now and then you’ll have to go further inside the zone instead of just following the edges. Still, it’s a very big zone with a lot of nodes and you should be able to level up here in no time.

In Tirisfal Glades follow the inner edges of the center of the zone. Do circles while completely ignoring the eastern part of the zone and the Deathknell area. It’s not the best starter area for herbalism, but at the same time, that means there shouldn’t be any competition.

Mulgore is my favorite horde starter zone for herbalism. It is beautiful and easy to traverse. Taurens also start with increased herbalism skills which means they can herb Earthroot from the start. Earthroot is usually found in the mountains so the best route is following the edges of the northern part of the zone. However, if you are not a Tauren, or want to collect other herbs as well, you can go further inside the zone.

Elwynn Forest is a very popular starter zone, and rightfully so. The ambiance is relaxing with all the lush green. It is also good for herbalism. You can do circles through the southern part of the zone. There is no need to around Stone Cairn Lake, but you can check that part as well if you have a fast mount.

Teldrassil is a very underappreciated zone for herbalism. My personal suggestion is to start here, the herb density is impressive, and Darkshore is near which is where the next part of the guide will take you. Follow the edges of the zone, but make sure to ignore cities: Darnassus, Dolanaar, and Shadowglen.

Dun Morogh is my least favorite Alliance starter zone for herbalism. The herb density isn’t bad, but the majority of herbs can be found in two somewhat unconnected routes. That means you’ll have to do some running, and Dun Morogh is already annoying to traverse with all the rocks and hills.

Don’t forget to train Journeyman herbalism (75 – 150) once you reach skill level 50.

The routes from now on are good regardless of your faction – just be extra careful if you’re on a PvP server.

75 – 115

Mageroyal, Briarthorn, Stranglekelp, Bruiseweed

• Barrens
• Darkshore
• Westfall

Barrens is one of the best zones there is for classic wow herbalism. It is huge, easy to traverse, has a lot of different herbs, and - of course - Barrens chat. Run along the edges of the zone, but avoid the harpy area in the northwest, it’s not worth going there.

Darkshore isn’t a very popular questing zone but is superb when it comes to collecting herbs. If you are a night elf or started your herbalism journey in Teldrassil, definitely go to Darkshore. The route is another simple one - complete circles of the zone.

Westfall can feel underwhelming, but it is the best Eastern Kingdoms zone for this part of the guide. Follow the edges of the zone to collect the more important herbs, and check the beaches for Stranglekelp which grows in the sea. If you still want to collect lower-level ones, you can go a bit more inward. Anyways, you can ignore the Dagger Hills in the south.

115 – 170

Wild Steelbloom, Kingsblood, Liferoot

• Hillsbrad Foothills
• Wetlands

Hillsbrad is another chill route to follow. Follow the edges while ignoring the area straight east of Durnholde Keep. When you get a higher skill level and are able to collect Liferoot, start going up and down the river as well. Liferoot can only be found there.

Just like Hillsbrad Foothills, do circles in Wetlands while ignoring the eastern part (in this case: the road to Grim Batol). The inner circle on the map is where Liferoot spawns, so start doing that route when you get a high enough skill level.

Don’t forget to train Expert Herbalism (150 – 225) once you reach skill level 125.

175 – 205

Fadeleaf, Goldthorn, Khadgar’s Whisker

• Arathi Highlands

Arathi Highlands is by far the best zone for this part of the guide, so I won’t be including any alternatives. The route is large, so you won’t be bothered even if you get some competition - and every single herb you need spawns here.

205 – 230

Purple Lotus, Firebloom

• Tanaris
• Searing Gorge

Tanaris is kinda awful. The best route is to do circles inside the zone. However, this is the desert without many landmarks and everything looks the same. It is incredibly boring, and you might even lose track and thus stop following the optimal route. However, it does have better herb density than the alternative.

I find Tanaris to be better than Searing Gorge, but if you are already in Eastern Kingdoms and don’t feel like traveling, Searing Gorge will do. This zone is irritating to traverse because you will need to zig-zag on the road, and even go down the Cauldron at some point.

230 – 270

Sungrass, Golden Sansam, Ghost Mushroom

• The Hinterlands

After the previous horrible step, it’s smooth sailing from now on. The Hinterlands is crazy good. Do circles inside of the zone, while ignoring the altar of Zul, Jintha’Alor, the beach, and Seradane. There are zero hills and annoyances on this route so you will be able to do rounds in no time. If you want, you can go inside Skulk Rock to gather some Ghost Mushrooms if your skill is high enough.

270 – 300

Dreamfoil, Mountain Silversage, Plaguebloom, Gromsblood

• Fellwood

Felwood is my personal all-time favorite classic wow zone for herbalism. I spent many hours herbing in this zone. The herb density is great and each one you need spawns here. At first, it may seem a bit complicated to traverse because you will need to go up and down some hills here and there, but you will be able to learn it in no time.

Thank you for reading our vanilla herbalism leveling guide! If you want to continue making gold with this profession run circles in the high-level zones – Burning Steppes, Silithus, Winterspring, and Eastern Plaguelands. That’s where the most sought herbs (including Black Lotus) spawn at. Herbalism is the perfect profession if you like to chill in the open world of Azeroth.